The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method for continuously forming a plurality of identical images.
A copy machine is a typical example of an image forming apparatus of this type. The most advanced copy machine to date has been recently developed. According to this copy machine, copy magnifications can be varied and a desired copy mode (one-side or two-side copy mode) can be selected in addition to the copy number preset function and the selection of different copy paper sizes. In such a copy machine, an operator must select these variable factors before he starts copying a desired document. However, an erroneous preset operation is often performed. For example, when a copy magnification changing mode is set, the desired copy magnification must match the paper size. However, they are often mismatched. This mismatching can be checked by the operator only when the copied sheet is discharged from the copy machine. For this reason, when the copy preset number is large, a number of paper sheets may be wasted. In addition to this disadvantage, the copying operation must be performed again, resulting in lower working efficiency.
A stop key is arranged on a conventional copy machine to stop copying operation. In this case, after one sheet is copied, the operator depresses the stop key to check the output state. However, when the stop key is depressed, the copy preset number data, the copy magnification data, and the copy mode data are cleared. The operator must then preset these data again, resulting in inconvenience. If the operator sets the copy preset number to be 1 and then checks the output state, he must then set the remaining number of sheets to be copied and again depress the start key to obtain these copies, resulting in a cumbersome operation. The above inconvenience also applies to an electronic printer, a facsimile system and the like.